In brief: Man, 84, killed after standoff

Craigsville, W.Va. – An 84-year-old West Virginia man who shot and injured two deputies was killed by police Saturday after he emerged from his barricaded house with a weapon, police said.

The death of John Evans outside his central West Virginia home escalated after a 911 call from a neighbor who told police Evans threatened him with a firearm over an unspecified dispute, said Sgt. Michael Baylous, a state police spokesman.

When a Nicholas County deputy arrived at Evans’ house, Evans shot him with a shotgun, Baylous said. The second deputy was shot when he responded to the scene. The wounds were not considered life-threatening.

State police units and other law enforcement agencies then responded to Evans’ house, sparking sporadic exchanges of gunfire over several hours.

Evans ultimately emerged from a back door of the house with a weapon and was killed, Baylous said.

Detainees still on hunger strike

Miami – The U.S. military on Saturday said no Guantanamo captives had quit their months-old hunger strike, reporting that 106 prisoners were refusing meals – and Navy medical forces put 45 of them on a list for forced feedings.

A prison spokesman said an earlier report that two captives had voluntarily resumed eating was in error.

The figure of hunger strikers has only risen since the military acknowledged the protest in March.

Commanders say Navy medical staff members use a calculus of missed meals and weight loss to decide when to count a captive as a hunger striker. On the flipside, a hunger striker has to voluntarily eat a number of meals in a row to get off the list.

Lawyers for the detainees say the protest erupted after a search of their cells; the prisoners perceived that the guards had disrespected their Qurans.